Read the review Hi-Fi News

www.hinews.co.uk | Reprinted from Hi-Fi News for global distribution
It was with this album, and the
songs ‘S-G-L-M-B-B-R’ and ‘My Lucky
Card’ in particular, that I appreciated
how much these speakers like to
dig deep. Q Acoustics’ belief that its
damped cabinet construction and
resonance tuning brings tangible
musical rewards rang true – basslines
and kick drums drove these tracks
forward, sounding big and forceful.
It was rock-solid, if you’ll pardon
the pun – and digging out Chris
Rea’s ‘Daytona’ [The Road To Hell;
WEA 2292-46285-2], a piece I’ve
belatedly realised has an awesome
bass sound, proved it wasn’t a
one-off. The performance here was
melliuous yet still massive.
However, although thrilled by
the Concept 50’s ability to deliver
bass and drums with weight and
power, it did at times feel like it had
become too much the star of the
show, notably on Don McLean’s folk-
rock standard American Pie [Capitol
Records; 192kHz/24-bit]. In this
instance, using the supplied foam
plugs for the speaker’s rear ports
resulted in a better overall balance
in my room, letting me focus more
on the singer’s sublime vocals.
IN A SPIN
On the same album’s ‘Vincent’,
shorn of the need to batter me
about the head with low-end details,
the speakers put on a show of
wonderful uidity and renement,
holding McLean in a stereo image
that was peppered with delicate
acoustic guitar and a faint marimba.
Alongside the sense of fun that
comes from the Concept 50’s heft,
and the listen-for-hours quality of its
well-rounded treble, there’s a level
of detail that’s still revealing of mix
quality but doesn’t put your lo-
faves entirely off-limits. Even with
the volume dial given a spin, Amon
Amarth’s ‘Guardians Of Asgaard’
[Twilight Of The Thundergod;
Metal Blade Records
3984-14693-2], with its
guttural ‘singing’ and
crunchy guitars, had me
head-banging rather than
headscratching. This loudspeaker
has the all-round sonic appeal to
match its startlingly smart looks!
LEFT: Dual 4mm binding posts support
bi-amping/bi-wiring via the split 2.1kHz
crossover mounted into the base of the
cabinet. Q Acoustics’ large reex port
may be partially or wholly shorted using
the supplied concentric foam bungs
Add new drivers and a gorgeous
refreshed aesthetic to a tried-
and-trusted cabinet design – then
lower the price to the £2000
sweet spot – and you get the
Concept 50. This easily-driven
oorstander offers a grand sense
of scale and weight, plenty of bass
energy, and a smooth approach
to the top-end that caters to all
musical avours. The only surprise
is that it’s taken Q Acoustics this
long to ll that gap…
HI-FI NEWS VERDICT
Sound Quality: 86%
0 - - - - - - - - 100
HI-FI NEWS SPECIFICATIoNS
r PM
HI-FI NEWS SPECIFICATIoNS
0
-7
-14
-21
-28
-35
dB
0.0
1.3
2.7
4.0msec
200 500 1k 2k 5k 10k 20k 60kHz
Frequency in Hz >>
ABOVE: Cabinet modes are well suppressed leaving
mild resonances associated with the bass/mid drivers
ABOVE: Response inc. neareld summed driver/port
[green], freeeld corrected to 1m at 2.83V [yellow],
ultrasonic [pink]. Left, black; right, red; w grille, blue
Sensitivity (SPL/1m/2.83V – 1kHz/Mean/IEC) 90.7dB / 89.8dB / 87.0dB
Impedance modulus: minimum
& maximum (20Hz–20kHz)
3.8ohm @ 4.0kHz
34ohm @ 78Hz
Impedance phase: minimum
& maximum (20Hz–20kHz)
–57
o
@ 93Hz
+42
o
@ 27Hz
Pair matching/Resp. error (200Hz–20kHz) 1.1dB/ ±3.5dB/±3.7dB
LF/HF extension (–6dB ref 200Hz/10kHz)
40Hz / 40.3kHz/38.1kHz
THD 100Hz/1kHz/10kHz (for 90dB SPL/1m) 0.3% / 0.1% / 0.8%
Dimensions (HWD) / Weight (each) 1025x418x319mm / 23kg
LAB
REPoRT
Q ACoUSTICS CoNCEPT 50
The three-layer cabinet walls employed by Q Acoustics, together
with its internal Helmholtz resonators [see boxout, p59], have
successfully created a very inert enclosure, as evidenced by the
CSD waterfall [see Graph 2] which shows its transient output
falling sharply away, also largely free of any HF driver modes. The
forward response, meanwhile, reveals a similar presence band
depression – made more irregular with the grille in place [blue
trace, Graph 1] – and emphasised midrange and extreme treble
(+7.6dB/23.3kHz re. 10kHz) to that seen in the Concept 500
[HFN Jul ’17]. While this informs the ±3.5dB and ±3.7dB response
errors [see Graph 1], and inuences the loudspeaker’s ‘mild’
tonality, it also skews its sensitivity. Hence the 90.7dB/1kHz
gure accords rather more closely with Q Acoustics’ 90.5dB
rating than the 89.8dB from 500Hz-8kHz. Either way, the pair
matching of our samples proved to be an impressively tight
0.8dB up to 10kHz (1.15dB up to 20kHz) while distortion was
held to a low ~0.1% (re. 90dB SPL) through the midrange.
Diffraction-corrected neareld measurements reveal a
68Hz-875Hz/–6dB bandpass from the matched bass/midrange
units augmented by the 36Hz tuning of the rear port to yield
a bass extension of 40Hz (–6dB re. 200Hz). Bass output rolls
away very steeply below this point [green shaded area, Graph
1]. Otherwise, this combination of high sensitivity with a modest
bass output has not been won by challenging the amplier with
an especially tough load – the 3.8ohm minimum occurs at a high
4kHz while the most demanding impedance appears at 124Hz
with a combination of 6.3ohm and phase angle of –41
o
. PM
HFN Apr Q Acoustics Concept 50_Reprint.indd 61 02/03/2022 14:34